Page 96 of Awakened
“Can you stay here with me? Hold me for a little longer?”
“Of course, whatever you need.”
He sighed against my neck. “Thanks . . . I love you.”
“I love you too.”
We must have fallen asleep because church bells woke us up, alerting us to dinner. “Fuck, we gotta go, Zach.”
He sat up, his hair disheveled and eyes puffy. Dragging a handdown his face, he said, “Okay. I need to go change and clean up. Will you be okay making it to the pack house alone?”
“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry so much.”
I entered the dining hall while people were still filling their plates. After getting one of everything available—it was quite the spread—I tried to figure out where to sit. The room was organized into rows and rows of long pressed wood tables—it was high school all over again. I slowly walked between tables, scanning faces to find someone familiar or who would even acknowledge I existed.
Emily shouting my name from across the room rescued me from the torture of adults behaving like teenagers. There were two empty chairs next to her and Brandon at the head table. I let out a sigh of relief. It took every ounce of strength not to rush toward the empty seat.
At a quick glance, I knew that all the alphas and betas from the packs present were seated together at this table. From the Howler intel, I recognized the Cornerstone Four leaders huddled together at the other end of the table.
Good, it’s best to put off that interaction until I have a good night’s sleep.
In the middle of the table were the more conservative pack leaders. Everyone had seated themselves in a kind of spectrum, from the culty extremists to the regular folks. I started to laugh at the juvenile self-organization until I noticed Matthew Stewart staring at me.
He was the son of the Crescent Moon Pack’s Alpha. The Howlers’ pictures of him didnotdo him justice.
Wowie, wow, wow.
Dipping his chin, he gazed up at me through dark lashes with those pretty hazel eyes, a smirk playing on his lips because he caught me scoping him out.
I did the first thing that came to mind. I winked. His smirk fell, his forehead scrunching in confusion. I held back a laugh. That coy, bullshit look must’ve usually been a panty dropper.
Not on this woman.
He tilted his head. A softer, more sincere smile graced his ridiculously handsome face, and I knew I had him. He was on my list of suspects in Grace’s and my dad’s murders, and his attraction to me could end up being helpful. I hoped I wouldn’t have to dole out justice to this beauty, but I had a job to do, and no godlike male was going to keep me from those ends.
As my attention moved down the table toward Emily and Brandon, a pair of dark brown eyes in the middle stopped me in my tracks. I blinked hard, forcing my feet to move again. Seth shot me a tentative smile that I reciprocated to the best of my abilities. I honestly hadn’t prepared for this.
Of course, he was there. I’d been so busy preparing for espionage that I hadn’t thought about what seeing Seth would be like. A quick inventory of my emotions proved I was actually doing okay. No bitterness. No heartache. I could honestly say I was happy to see him.
Damn, having a purpose in life really puts everything into perspective.
I made it to my seat, and Emily tried to rub my back, but I shifted away from her with a slight shake of the head. I was fine. There was no need to signal to the others anything was going on.
Twenty minutes later, Zach rushed in and sat next to me. He picked at the food left on my plate, our hands resting together on the table. The gesture did not go unnoticed by the brown and hazel eyes that stayed on me throughout the whole meal.
Alpha Reynolds stood after the plates were cleared and said, “Thank you all for joining us for the first annual Gathering!” The room erupted in applause.
Emily snorted, and Brandon tsked at her but couldn’t hide his smile at her salty reaction to the jerk of the hour.
“Over the next four days, every female will meet every male. We expect many mate bonds to be found.”
The roar of approval was nearly deafening.
“We hope that next year we are able to invite even more packsand grow The Gathering until all wolves meet their mate. Please make yourselves at home because tomorrow, the fun begins!”
With that, Alpha Reynolds was whisked from the room by many of the Cornerstone leaders.
Zach and I stood with Emily and Brandon, discussing the plan for the following day, when Seth and Becca walked up.
